Death in Venice: And Seven Other Stories

By Thomas Mann

Eight complex stories illustrative of the author's belief that "a story must tell itself," highlighted by the high art style of the famous title novella.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Nov 3, 2010
• ISBN: 9780307772923

Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, and essayist. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas are noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. Mann won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929.

Reviews for Death in Venice

[cbjames_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann is a story of obsession and isolation. Aschenbach, a writer of rarefied fictions, takes a holiday to Venice where he sees a beautiful youth of 15 years. He is immediately taken in by the boy's beauty and very quickly becomes obsessed with him. Aschenbach finds he is staying at the same hotel as the boy, so he studies the boy's daily habits, making sure that he is at the beach when the boy will be, ready for breakfast when the boy is, he even follows his family when the boy goes on tours of the city. He never attempts to meet the boy or to speak with him though he does learn his name, Tadzio, and quite a bit of his family history.Is Aschenbach a man in love or just a man obsessed? He learns as much as he can about Tadzio from secondhand sources like the hotel barber, but his knowledge remains so limited that the Tazio he comes to love is largely a Tadzio of his own imagination. Aschenbach can see what the boy looks like, but he does not know him in any real way. Aschenbach indulges in his obsession, staying on at the hotel as long as he can, in spite of the very real threat of a cholera outbreak in the emptying city.The city becomes a metaphor for Aschebach. Its decay, its age, its vulnerablity to disease are all mirrored in Aschenbach. The facade Venice puts on to attract visitors is mirrored in the fancy suits the fifty plus man wears in an attempt to make himself attractive. Neither the city nor the man can do much to really attract the attentions of a beautiful youth, those days are gone for both. The city provides attractions for the boy's aging mother and aunt who've brought their children in tow; the man can do nothing more than follow along trying to steal a glimpse of the youth he will not have again in any form.For all of its melancholy, all of its atmosphere of decay and the fact that the main character never talks to the object of his desire, Death in Venice is a highly readable story. While I did not really like Aschenbach at first, and I honestly can't say that I'm too fond of him by the end either, his story does become compelling. He does become a sympathetic character in spite of it all. By then end our understanding of what is happening to him has deepened making his story a haunting one.I'm giving Death in Venice by Thomas Mann five out of five stars.

[cendri-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was recommended this book on the basis that I would like the main character. Which I did, as I have a horrible weakness for old stoic men. Death in Venice was fascinating, and I highly recommend it as Modernist (or Post, I don't remember) reading.

[anabellebf · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I am not used to modernist prose. This story, however, is crystal-clear in its intentions - you know the end before you even start reading it. The narrator makes his own comparisons very obvious, and goes to the lenght of explaining his own mythology. It was an enjoyable read, however not among my favourites.

[vikee1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I haven't read all the stories in this book but loved "Death in Venice," very deep story, yes, a bit depressing but you really got into Acshenbach's mind & psyche, ...plus I love the setting, Venice is gorgeous!!

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This may be the best short novel ever written and is certainly one of the best I have read. The plot tells the story of the writer Gustav von Aschenbach who travels to Venice, where he falls in love with an adolescent boy before subsequently dying in the cholera-stricken city. Mann’s masterly command of language and play with mythology, his psychological profile of the artistic mind, and the novella’s contrast between cold artistic discipline and the power of love has generated great admiration. Aschenbach is introduced as an esteemed author who has produced literary works known for their formalism and neo-classical style. He has chosen an ascetic, disciplined life, a life of “noble purity, simplicity and symmetry”, for the sake of his creativity, success and national reputation. At the beginning of Death in Venice, we find the fifty-three year old writer unable to write a perfectly balanced work. He decides to take a walk by the north cemetery in an unnamed town that can be identified as Munich. The year, presented in the text as “19—”, is actually 1911. Since Mann opted not to provide a precise date, the narrative contains a timeless, ahistorical dimension despite being grounded in contemporary events.In the figure of a stranger whom Aschenbach sees at a chapel by the cemetery, Mann alludes to medieval personifications of death, and also to the Greek god Hermes, the guide to the Underworld. But the messenger of death is also a messenger of life. The text links him to the cult of life and the god of Asian origins, Dionysos. Mann's intention was to write a treatise on the Nietzschean contrast between the god of reason, Apollo, and the god of unreason, Dionysus. In his description of Aschenbach’s journey into Venice, Mann includes encounters with a Charon-like figure, and an old man bereft of dignity. These characters serve as messengers signalling Aschenbach’s looming fate, and as conspicuous representations of the transience and ugliness of life. The Venice depicted by Mann is "the fallen queen, flattering and dubious beauty . . . half fairy tale, half tourist trap". It is a vision presented in its sordid reality and in its mythical splendor. At the hotel Aschenbach catches sight of a beautiful, fourteen-year-old Polish boy named Tadzio who is vacationing with his family. Aschenbach is immediately attracted to him, comparing him to a Greek statue and an artistic masterpiece. Although the sultry air of Venice makes him feel unwell, he reverses his intention to leave the city. From now on, his life is controlled by his desire to continue to observe Tadzio.With references to the Platonic idea that physical attraction leads to spiritual knowledge, Mann diverts readers from the fact that Aschenbach’s attraction to Tadzio is primarily physical, not metaphysical. The ability of Thomas Mann to weave together character and theme and setting to achieve this perfection is uncanny and I do not believe he achieved any better in his longer fictions, great as they are. This is also one of the few novels that received a superlative treatment on film though, in the end, Visconti's film does not surpass the original.

[figre · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

For me (and how often is that the caveat when we feel we have read something important that did not resonate), this is a group of remarkably uninspired stories. There is lush detail, no doubt. The descriptions of the places and the people are brought to life. But there is nothing to tell about them. And, when something is told, I found little to resonate so that I cared what was happening. The best of this group is “Mario and the Magician” about a magician with apparent mind control abilities who embarrasses the wrong person during his show. In this case, the descriptions of the character and the locale all built to support the story (which supported the characters and the locale.) The absolute worst – “A Man and His Dog”. I like dogs just as well as the next person, but this is more than I ever wanted to know. It feels like the author was trying to complete a required word count for submission to a collection of original stories about dogs (and I’ll bet this shows up in many of such collections.)For me to understand the power of Thomas Mann will take the reading of some other materials. And reading these has meant that it will be a while before I try again.